Medication Change Causing Issues

I apologize for this being lengthy. Thirty-nine years ago I was near a myxedema coma. It was seven months after the birth of my last child. I was hospitalized for five days. I left the hospital on Synthroid and my doctor increased it slowly. After about five years on the drug, my body stopped metabolizing properly. I saw an endocrinologist who put me on 62.5 mcg. of Cytomel. I have done very well on that drug and dosage all these years. My PCP insisted I reduce the dosage because my blood work showed that I had become hyperthyroid. Immediately, my thyroid swelled, my voice changed and I felt as though I was swallowing around a golf ball. He increased the dosage to the previous level and I have done very well. I NEVER had any symptoms of hyperthyroidism. In fact, recently I have begun to have symptoms of hypothyroidism again. My PCP sent me to an endocrinologist. She has put me on 13 mcg. of Tirosint and reduced my Cytomel by 12.5 mcg. I had to call her yesterday because I was having great difficulty in swallowing. I took Benadryl because it was very similar to an anaphylactic episode I had with an iron infusion. She told me to reduce my Cytomel by another 12.5 mcg. I did that today and am having a terrible time swallowing. Again, it feels as though I am swallowing around a golf ball. The ultrasound she did on my thyroid last week showed that my thyroid was atrophied. Now it feels huge. Obviously, the problem is not with any type of allergic reaction....it is my thyroid. Has anyone else experienced these issues when medication is changed?

If you get treatment for the ROOT CAUSE of Thyroid issue you can eventually lower the need for synthetic thyroid drugs

Have you ever felt normal with Synthroid ?

You need to find the brand and dose that works for you , from my own experience, the formulation of Levo (the brand name) has a direct effect on how you feel !

Do you split the Cytomel dose into two? it is not recommended to be on Cytomel alone .

Somebody said...
I was originally on Synthroid. My body did not metabolize it and I was taking a high dose but it was not showing up in my blood work, although I had symptoms of being hyperthyroid.

Can explain this more ? you said that you were on a high dose and you felt hyper, that is normal, since you were over medicated .

Anyway, The brand name you take has a direct influence on how you feel, that is because every brand name has it's own formulation , you might want to ask your doctor to try another brand name like Levoxyl .

Somebody said...
Although I was on a high dose of Synthroid, my blood work showed I was still hypothyroid even though I had hyperthyroid symptoms.

What blood tests ? do you have a TSH test from then ?